Goodbye Wilshire Grand hotel

Los Angeles, CA -- Once a fixture in downtown Los Angeles, the Wilshire Grand hotel and adjoining offices will be demolished to make room for a $1 billion hotel, office and retail complex planned by one of South Korea's largest business conglomerates.

Yang Ho Cho, chairman of Korean Air-the flagship company for Hanjin Group, is developing the 1.8 million square foot area located at Figueroa Street and Wilshire Boulevard.

The Hanjin Group has $20 billion in annual revenue from its interests in land, sea and air transportation as well as construction, heavy industry, finance and information services.

Plans for the project call for replacing the 1950s-era structure with a luxurious 40-story hotel with as many as 700 rooms and topped by several floors of condominiums.

Next door would be an even taller building, a sleek 60-story tower with 1.1 million square feet of rentable office space. At ground level would be shops, a landscaped park and a public plaza.